‘King Mo’ Upsets Mousasi To Claim STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight Gold

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Sunday, 18 April 2010 00:00

MMA pundits have pegged Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal as a future superstar due as much to his charisma and personality as his fighting potential. He brought an undefeated record against limited competition into his Strikeforce light heavyweight championship fight with Gegard Mousasi, however, and the prevailing wisdom was that he wasn’t ready for the well rounded and vastly more experienced champion.

‘King Mo’ made many of these critics into believers with a performance in which he overcame Mousasi’s striking assault and an eye that was swollen shut to dominate the later rounds and earn a unanimous decision victory to claim the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight crown.

MMA betting enthusiasts who backed ‘King Mo’ as a +180 underdog enjoyed a nice financial windfall, while those who invested in Mousasi as a -220 favorite were reminded of the difficulty in laying chalk prices in an inherently unpredictable sport. Mousasi had an impressive fifteen fight winning streak ended by the upset victory.

Lawal came into the arena wearing a crown and cape and accompanied by a group of dancing girls, much like his entrances in Japan where his ‘King Mo’ persona was born. After the fight started, however, he was all business. He gave Mousasi trouble with his power and superior wrestling skills and did a good job keeping him on his back and negating his striking skills. Mousasi scored takedowns throughout the fight, and scored effectively with his ground and pound attack, though he did eat a number of punches from Mousasi that left his eye swollen shut by the end of the night.

The fifth round was a dominant performance by Lawal, and left little doubt as to the outcome of the fight. Lawal took Mousasi to the canvas three times, and was the beneficiary of a point deduction assessed to the champion for an illegal upkick. After the fight, Lawal was his usual charismatic self as he talked about fighting on the nationally televised event:

"The only thing that's going through my mind is, 'You're on CBS. You all need to go ahead and get me on CSI. I got careless, cause when I got to his legs, he was hitting me with some short shots. They weren't hurting me or nothing, but you can see the damage on my face."

Also on the card, Gilbert Melendez defeated Japanese lightweight superstar Shinya Aoki by decision and Jake Shields defended his middleweight crown with a dominating win over former UFC standout Dan Henderson. In the opening fight of the live card, MTV personality Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller had no trouble with an overmatched Tim Stout.

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‘King Mo’ Upsets Mousasi To Claim STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight Gold

‘King Mo’ Upsets Mousasi To Claim STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight Gold

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